Xanas Scheme
by DreamerAtDawn
Summary: 'W-where am I' 'Your friends left you here in Lyoko.' 'we trapped Yumi on Lyoko.' And then there was laughter. 'I never loved her.' I didn't even have the strength to care.
1. Chapter 1

**Ello! ^^ Thanx for reading! On with the story!**

'Yumi...Yumi...Wake up Yumi.'

I woke up in a room filled with darkness and sat up with a start.

'W-where am i?'

A voice spoke up that i didn't recognize.

'You are in Lyoko.'

"What?'

I looked down at myself and sure enough i was in my fighting attire with my fans strapped to my back. I looked around hoping for some sign of Ulrich, Aelita ,odd, or William but there was nothing. I sighed and turned back to the voice.

'Who are you? Where are my friends?'

He ignored my first question.

'Your friends left you here in Lyoko I've been trying to wake you for some time.'

'No they wouldn't do that!'

I grew angry and grabbed my fans prepared trow them at the darkness but i heard his voice sigh.

'If you don't believe me ill show you.'

Suddenly light exploded around me and i was standing in the court yard of our school a few feet from the bench where my friends and i always gathered. I smiled at the familiar sight and my heart leapt when i saw my friends.I ran up to them.

'Hey guys!'

They didn't respond to me they just continued talking like i didn't exist. They were talking about Lyoko and the few fond memories it possessed ,odd was laughing.

'Do you remember our first fight we were such beginners!Just like William is now.'

Ulrich chuckled as William hit odd over the head.

'Now now odd don't give William any reason to knock out the rest of your brain cells'

Odd began to pout as everyone else laughed and i almost felt sorry for him.

Jeremy pushed his glasses back up his nose and smiled.

'Alright enough clowning around what is everyone's most fond memory?'

My mind immediately went back to the instant when i was almost thrown into the digital sea and even though it had happened many times this one was different, Ulrich saved me. When he pulled me up i lost my balance and fell against him and then after blushing heavily we almost kissed. I smiled to myself and realized i had missed most of the conversation, it was Aelita's turn.

'oh me? My most fond memory is the day Jeremie woke me up with the super computer, I wasn't alone anymore.'

She smiled at him and they both blushed before looking away from each other.

Odd laughed at their expense and then turned to Ulrich.

'What about you good buddy?

Startled i turned to him as well curious to hear what he had to say.

He looked thoughtful for a second and then smirked and though my heart soared at the expression it was crushed a moment later when he opened his mouth.

'When we trapped Yumi on Lyoko.'

Horrified i stumbled backwards a few steps before falling on my butt but i didn't notice because i couldn't see passed his cheerful expression.

And then there was laughter.

I looked around my group of friends and a sob caught in my throat.

Odd paused with a grin. 'How did you manage that again Einstein?'

'Oh well we told her Xana was attacking to get her in Lyoko, William knocked her out, i transported her to a tower, and Aelita and i hacked the system to shut down a tower for good so we could trap her there.'

''What were Ulrich and i doing?'

Ulrich bristled. 'Well odd you got us both detention and I didn't get to take part in the mission.'

Odd put his hands on his hips. 'Oh what are you so grumpy about did you have some last words to say to her?'

Ulrich paused and hope filled my heart.

'Yes'

Odd blinked a few times. 'Oh and what would you have told her?'

Ulrich just shrugged. 'That I never loved her.'

My heart shattered and i crumpled to the ground listening to their laughter.

'Well anyway I've go to go sissy is waiting on me.'

I looked up to watch him walk away from the group and right into the arms of sissy. He kissed her and she smiled at them when they parted.

'I'm so glad you chose me over that Yumi.'

He slung an arm over her shoulders. 'Of course. Why would i ever pick her over you?'

I scrambled to my feet and ran after them but they only got further away and I tripped hitting the ground hard. I groaned and didn't bother to move, it hurt too much. My broken heart was beating but I didn't feel it only the numbing pain that was trying to constrict my breathing. I closed my eyes and then the tears came, with every breath I took i sobbed harder, I've ever hurt this much before.

When I managed to open my eyes again I was back in the empty black room.

'Now do you see?'

I didn't answer the voice, I didn't even care who it was.

'Make it go away?'

It paused. 'Make what go away?'

'The pain.'

'Is that what you truly want Yumi?'

Through a fit of sobs i answered. 'Yes!'

'Alright Yumi if that is what you want.'

I suddenly felt my body being lifted up and I was being drained of energy, my pain was fading and I was becoming numb.

'Thank you voice.'

He chuckled darkly. 'My name is Xana'

I smiled and nodded off into the clam bliss of my dreams. I was going to die and surprisingly I didn't even have the strength to care.

 **A/N: I own nothing**

 **Review plz!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ello! ^^ Thanx for reading! On with the story!**

Meanwhile at Kadic Academy -

The boys were all sitting at their usual lunch table but something was different: Odd wasn't eating excessively, Jeremie wasn't chattering away about a new computer program, William was just staring at his food, and Ulrich hadn't even bothered to get a tray at all. When Aelita sat down and looked around at her group of friends her heart ached they were all so upset and she couldn't do anything to fix it.

She looked over at Ulrich, he had laid his head down on folded arms, he hadn't moved an inch sense she sat down. She wanted to reach out and pull him into a hug, she wanted to tell him it would be ok, but she couldn't. She was trying to figure out something to say, anything to say to lift their spirits but that was when Sissi walked up followed by her two lackeys.

'Hello losers you seem a bit depressed today, did somebody's dog get run over?'

She looked pointedly at Odd and seemed surprised when she got no response other than him continuing to pick at his food so she tried again.

'Oh Ulrich-Dear! I didn't see you over there! How about me and you get away from these losers, especially while that freak Yumi isn't here.'

Aelita froze along with everyone else at the comment, it was just typical Sissy but today was different. Ulrich slowly lifted his head and Aelita gasped, she had never seen such a look of violence on his face. Sure he had been mad at Yumi before but the argument never lasted very long, this was different. He looked at her with such hatred Odd actually visually shrunk next to his best friend and when Ulrich stood up seething we were all reminded just how much of an athlete he was. He stood slowly testing each muscle before he used it and Aelita wondered exactly how long it had been sense he had straightened up.

When he was on his feet his breathing heaved thickly as his body coursed with rage and Aelita watched as he had to physically hold himself still before Sissy. His eyes seemed darker than usual but they blazed with his fiery and unstable emotions. Then she watched him grind his teeth and she hoped he didn't break a tooth.

'Don't you dare talk about Yumi.'

Sissi, ever oblivious, didn't seem to notice Ulrich's great struggle and continued on.

'Oh why not? Did she finally leave you and go back to Japan? Or maybe she ran away with an older guy? That sounds like something that unfaithful freak would do.'

Everything changed in an instant Ulrich exploded and flew at her only to be tackled by Odd who was thrown off in an instant like he didn't exist. In the chaos Aelita was thrown to the ground and when she came up to see what had happened she was stunned.

Sissi had been pushed backwards and had fallen into herb and Nicholas as they tumbled over each other to the ground. She was staring at Ulrich with fear as he struggled with William who had managed to pull both of his arms behind his back and Odd was struggling to hold down his legs which was a feat by itself.

Ulrich was fighting with everything he had and was about to get free when a voice stopped him, it was Jeremie.

'Don't do it Ulrich! Do you think Yumi would like to see you like this?!'

Startled at the yell from their usually quiet friend everyone halted their movements to look at him, his hands were clenched as he battled with his own anger. Ulrich slumped in Williams hold exhausted from his war and slowly pulled his arms free. Odd and William moved away from him as he slowly stood up and breathed a deep sigh.

'I'm sorry guys.'

Then, with out even glancing up at us, he turned and put his hands in his pockets before heavily walking away and out of the lunch room.

Suddenly Sissi seemed to realize what had happened and she jumped to her feet.

'What was that all about? What have you done to my poor Ulrich?! I bet it was all that Yumi's fault!'

Odd at that moment turned from where he had watched his broken best friend leave the room and gave Sissi a dark look, one Aelita didn't think could exist for him.

'Drop it Sissi.'

Her mouth clamped shut in surprise at the morbid tone but she tried to play it off with a 'Humph!' and turned in the other direction to walk away.

William picked himself off the ground and turned to Odd.

'What can we do?'

Odd looked at him with a far away look like he was remembering something from a dream and Aelita could only imagine what it was he saw that made his eyes harden.

'We have to find Yumi.'

'Odd you know I'm trying but-'

Odd turned to look at him. 'Try harder Jeremie unless you want that to be Ulrich, Yumi is everything to him. He is losing himself in anger and grief. Besides there is no promise William and I will be there to stop him the next time he forgets himself and I don't want to see my best friend arrested for murder. We are going to Lyoko now, ill meet you at the factory.'

As he went to walk away William stopped him.

'Where are you going Odd?'

Odd didn't even turn around but he did pause.

'I'm going to get Ulrich.'

'What?! We don't even know where she is and Ulrch is in no condition to fight.'

Odd turned sharply and glared at Jeremie.

'How would you feel is you watched Aelita get attacked by Xanas monsters and then captured by the scyphozoa and then when she vanished was unable to be found by any computer program? How would you feel if you thought it was your fault?'

Jeremie looked down and Odd continued.

'I'm going to get Ulrich and even if we don't know where Yumi is he can at least get the chance to destroy some Xana monsters.'

He turned and began to walk away.

'Be careful Odd.'

Odd paused again in front of the doors and turned to give Aelita a half hearted smile.

'Aren't I always?'

Then he was gone.

 **A/N: I own nothing**

 **Review plz!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ello! ^^ Thanx for reading! On with the story!**

Later that day on Lyoko-

Aelita was laying on her stomach with her head in her hands talking to Odd as he played with his tail. They were on a rock in the middle of the mountain region and they were also surrounded by Xanas creatures but they didn't need to worry. William was the only one that seemed to be irritated by the amount of monsters and despite Aelita's words of encouragement he stood with his sword in a defensive position.

'Shouldn't we help him?'

Odd looked up from his conversation with Aelita at William who had yet to relax and shrugged.

'He dosen't need our help.'

William turned on him. 'What are you talking about there are too many of them!'

Odd turned to look at Ulrich who had been in constant combat sense they had arrived and watched him for a minute. He was being chased by a few hornets when he jumped on a block and destroyed It only to flip backwards and kill the hornets before running under a krab and stabbing it. Then he jumped out of the way to avoid the laser of a megatank and used his super sprint to stab it before it could load another shot. He jumped out of the way of a few laser short and turned to see three Tarantulas and used his triplicate to kill them all at once.

'Hey Jeremie?'

'Yea Odd?'

'How many life points does Ulrich have?'

'All of them.'

'Impact!'

Odd turned to see Ulrich jump away from another magatank and he started walking over to them with a smile on his face. Odd grinned back at him.

'Having fun?'

'You bet!'

William looked at him in sheer disbelief and opened his mouth to shout at Ulrich for being so reckless when a hand appeared on his shoulder. He turned to see Aelita and she smiled at him.

'Don't worry William Ulrich just needed to let out some frustration he'll be fine'

He frowned. 'What about finding Yumi?'

'Jeremie is still working on it.'

William growled to himself. 'Then why are we here?!'

Aelita stepped back at the yell catching both Ulrich and Odds attention.

'Are we here just so he can make himself feel better?!'

He pointed his sword at Ulrich.

Before Aelita could respond Ulrich pulled out one of his swords and used it to shove William's away.

'You didn't have to come William, in case Jeremie finds her we are already here to make it easier to get her back.'

William couldn't stand it, he was so angry and hurt. He had come into the group as an outsider and fallen in love with Yumi but she had already given her heart to him and neither of them would admit it. He knew he didn't have a chance and tried to accept that but every time something happened with the two of them Yumi would come to him for comfort. He remembered her eyes filled with tears, her face flushed, her hair in her eyes. He had understood then that to her he was just a shoulder to cry on and that she would never love him, at least not in the way he wanted her to and that made his heart ace every time he say her. He knew she loved Ulrich but he stayed in case she needed him and there were times she needed his help or protection in Lyoko. That day when she was taken he lost everything, all his will to pretend that he was ok, he had seen it happen.

Ulrich was fighting a few crabs and Yumi was after a manta while he and Odd were trying to get rid of the ever annoying group of blocks when he heard it, she screamed.

Everyone turned on instinct to see Yumi trying to pull herself up after being knocked into a tree by a megatank but that wasn't what had caused the shrill sound, in front of her was the Scyphozoa and she didn't have the strength to get up and run.

'Yumi!' Ulrich raced towards her in his super spring but was stopped by a wall of Krabs.

She managed to struggle to her feet before she was knocked down again by a Krabs laser.

William was shot at again and had to force himself to pay attention to the blocks around him and when he managed to kill it a yell from Ulrich made him turn.

'Ulrich!'

'No Yumi!'

He turned to see Ulrich against a tree and struggling to get up, he had a look of pure horror on his face and William followed his line of sight to see Yumi being lifted up by the Scyphozoa. He watched her go slack and her fans slipped from each hand to land on the forest floor.

He rushed forward ignoring the last block, leaving it for Aeltia or Odd and ran in her direction only to feel a sudden pain in his side and go flying. He flipped over himself and hit the ground hard not far from Ulrich and used his sword to help himself stand.

'You ok?'

Surprised he turned to Ulrich who had both his swords out and was edging in front of him to block the Krabs laser shots. He had his calculating look in his eyes as he watched the monsters try to build a blockade in font of the Scyphozoa.

'Yea.'

William stood and they glanced at each other before charging at the building rows of crabs. Somehow Ulrich managed to get on top of one of the Krabs and instead of hitting the mark and making it explode he started running across the tops and when he jumped off he sliced at the Scyphozoa. He took you one of the tentacles that was lit up against her head but instead of letting her go like it usually would do it took off still holding her.

'No!'

Ulrich sprinted after them using his triplicate to try and block it from going any further and might've succeeded had it not been for the Hornets that snuck up behind him. They shot him and as he began to dissolve into digital blocks the Scyphozoa flew past him and William watched him try to reach out to her before he disappeared.

William destroyed another Krab and ran after where the Scyphozoa had gone and was caught by surprise by some Kankrelats hiding around the corner and was devirtualized. When William appeared in the scanner and stepped out he spotted Ulrich, he had fallen half way out of his scanner and was on the ground, continuously slamming his fists into it. Odd had appeared over him and tried to get him to his feet but couldn't and when Aelita appeared and sat down beside him she slowly pulled him from the scanner as he broke down.

'I couldn't save her, Yumi was calling for me and I couldn't save her!'

All this time of knowing them Ulrich was the tough one, he was the one that held everyone else up, he was the backbone of the group he didn't waver. William felt his legs give out underneath him as Ulrich turned to Aelita and began to cry and as his knees hit the ground, Aelita didn't seem to know what do do about the boy with his head in her lap crying but she didn't push him away. Instead she ran her fingers through his hair and promised him it would be ok.

Nobody said anything else even as Jeremie came into the room. Ulrich cried himself out and fell asleep laying on Aelita and they took him back to his dorm. When he woke up he wasn't the same, something had changed his tears had gone along with his spirit, he was just a shell of what he used to be.

 **A/N: I own nothing**

 **Review plz!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ello! ^^ Thanx for reading! On with the story!**

Picking up where we left off-

'Guys I found something!'

Startled by Jeremie's voice William shook his head to clear his head of the memories as Ulrich responded.

'What is it Jeremie?'

'I don't know but its not a monster, and its not far just follow the path to your right and you should come across it soon'

'Alright Jeremie.'

Ulrich took off in the direction we were told to go and Odd called after him.

'What about our vehicles Ulrich?!'

When he didn't respond William sighed and took off after him yelling at Odd over his shoulder. 'Meet us there!'

Ulrich was using his super sprint and as he watched everything speed by he wondered if it could be a trap, Xana could've figured out a way to disguise his monsters from the super computer.

Ulrich shook his head and watched as a black smoke appeared next him and growled a bit to himself as he thought about what William had said.

Was that really the only reason Odd had come to get him to go to Lyoko? To try and make him feel better?

He thought back to this morning, he had been so close to tears in the cafeteria, a terrible dream that he couldn't get out of his thoughts, Yumi dying because of him. In the dream he was back to the day when they lost Yumi and she called for him, just like she did the first time.

He ran for her his heart beating in his ears and his legs pounding the ground as fast as they could. When it had happened the first time he had William to try and distract the Krabs while he went after the Scyphozoa but this time he was all alone and he was attacked. Krabs and blocks rushed him as he tried to get to Yumi and despite his determination he was being pushed toward the edge of the platform.

The next couple seconds happened in a blur as he fought them and suddenly a magatank charged him instead of shooting its laser and he was thrown over the edge, but not before he threw one of his swords at the Scyphozoa. By some great stroke of luck Ulrich managed to catch himself and struggled to pull his body weight back up to a stable position, only then did he realize that nothing was firing at him and he looked up startled, something was wrong. Xana would never give up this close to destroying one of then unless he had won, and a terrifying thought surfaced, where was Yumi?

He turned to where he had last seen the Scyphozoa and his heart sank, she was unmoving on the forest floor. He raced towards her and several feet away from her he came to a grinding halt, horrified. There she was just infront of him, with his sword sticking out of her stomach, pinning her to the ground. He tried to walk towards her but his unstable legs made him stumble and he fell crawling to her side.

He reached out to her with a shaking hand and lightly touched her cheek but she didn't respond to him.

'Y-Yumi? No...YUMI!'

He screamed and pulled the sword from her throwing it was far away as he possibly could before wrapping her in his arms and cradling her to his chest. Violent sobs wracked his body as he rocked her in his arms pulling back to look at her face and brush her hair from her eyes. He wanted them to open, for her to look at him with her beautiful onix eyes, for her to smile at him and jump away to laugh at his response to her joke but she didn't move.

His eyes traveled to where she had been hit and he put his hand over the hole in her body suit as his body heaved forward. He gasped for air and looked down to see a large sword in his chest before a dark chuckle sounded behind him and he turned his head to see William, with the Xana mark on his forehead.

William reached forward and grabbed the hilt of his sword before roughly pulling it out of Ulrich sending him backwards with the momentum. Yumi fell from his arms as he fell on his back and he struggled to turn on his side and reach for her but William stepped on his wrist and he heard a loud crunch.

He screamed and Williams laughter filled his ears as he sat up suddenly in his bed coated in sweat and breathing heavily. Ulrich had to talk himself into believing he didn't kill her, that didn't happen. Only at that point did he realize that Yumi should've devirtualized when the sword struck her but she hadn't and he used that thought as proof to try and calm himself down.

When he had gone to the cafeteria with the others he didn't want to talk about the fact that his eyes were red from crying or why he wasn't hungry, he just wanted them around him to prove to himself that he was alright.

When Sissi appeared and began to talk about Yumi his body coursed with anger, pushing out the sadness and it made him feel a bit better so he allowed it. When she called Yumi unfaithful he just snapped, something in his heart clenched painfully and he sprung at her his vision red. All he could see was the Scyphozoa and the possessed William and he was filled with hatred. Something landed on him and he flung it off stalking towards the creature in front of him but his arms were pulled behind his back. He struggled and turned to see the grin of a possessed William and his rage boiled over fighting as something tried to keep his legs still and he was about to have a hand free when a voice brought him back.

Jeremie had just screamed at him and as he let his eyes focus on the blonde boy a few feet away with a concerned looking Aelita standing next to him his anger began to fade. He glanced down to his legs to see Odd out of breath and assumed that William was the one to grab his arms, then he spared a look at the 'monster' he had been attacking. Sissi was on the ground half laying on Herb and Nicholas with a terrified look on her face and he realized what he had done.

With a sigh he pulled away from William slowly so as not to alarm them, and William let him go as Odd got off of him. He sighed and mumbled a apology shoving his hands deep in his pockets so he wouldn't be of any danger to anyone else and exited the cafeteria heading for his hiding spot in the woods, which is where Odd found him hours later.

'ULRICH!'

Ulrich shook his head and realized that William was standing in front of him and despite himself the William from his dream came to mind and he scowled.

'What?'

'You've been standing there staring at nothing, you just suddenly stopped running, the others have gone ahead of us.'

William crossed his arms and scowled back at him and Ulrich looked down. 'Sorry'

The anger drained from Williams face and he sighed. 'Come on, we have to catch up.'

Ulrich nodded. 'Right'

He used his super sprint with William next to him using his super smoke and they stumbled across Aelita fighting with three blocks. They both took to action Ulrich jumping on a block and slamming his swords into the side of it and william appearing from the smoke with his sword at the ready slicing though another. Aelita used one of her energy fields and destroyed the last one before collapsing to her hands and knees breathing heavily. Ulrich went to her on instinct.

'Aelita are you ok?'

He hefted her up and she leaned on him for support. 'Yes I think I used too much energy, a bit dizzy.'

William stood next to them with his sword ready for an attack. 'Where is Odd?'

Aelita put a hand to her head and stepped away from Ulrich before answering.

'He got devirtualized.'

'Hey guys watch out! Something is coming towards you! Its right in front of you!'

In response to Jeremie Ulrich pulled out both of his swords and Aelita created an energy field as they fell into place on either sides of William.

'Will you bugs quit following me!?'

Ulrichs swords lowered at the voice, he recognized it immediately.

'It couldn't be.'

Aelita and William also began to lower their weapons just when something rounded the corner.

Ulrich gasped and she looked up from the Kankrelats at her feet in their direction and as they stared at each other Ulrich realized she didn't look the same. She was still wearing a her body suit but it was black and startled Ulrich turned to compare Williams suit.

They were the same except her suit was accented green instead of orange and when he looked back at her he flinched. Her eyes weren't the dark color he remembered, they were an unnatural shining green. Suddenly she smirked and put her hands on her hips absentmindedly kicking a kankrelat away from her before she spoke to them.

'Well isn't this a surprise, long time no see huh?'

Ulrich took an uncertain step forward.

'Yumi?'

 **A/N: I own nothing**

 **Review plz!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ello! ^^ Thanx for reading! On with the story!**

The Yumi in front of them grinned but it wasn't comforting like it should've been it was actually frightening because there was a look in her eyes like a mountain loin looks at its prey.

'The one and only.'

She gave an over accentuated bow and when she leaned back up the color of her eyes had sharpened like she was calculating something extraordinary.

Ulrich didn't look away from her, she was right here in front of him just a few feet away, and yet all his mind could put together was one word: Enemy.

He heard a step and her gaze shifted to something on his left, he followed it and his eyes fell upon Aelita. She had retreated from their natural defense line by a foot or so and her energy field dissolved into nothing as she shook her head, terror in her eyes.

'Awwww poor little princess are you frightened?'

Yumi knotted her hands together behind her back and strolled leisurely forward giggling lightly to herself as Aelita stumbled back trying to get further from the girl advancing on her. Yumi brushed past William and paused an arms length from Aelita before opening her mouth to speak.

'How is it being human little orphan? Having your pathetic Jeremie groveling at your feet. Leaving all this behind-

She gestured around her.

-just to convince your blonde knight in armor that you love him?'

Yumi began circling her as she continued talking.

'How does it feel to be selfish? To hold his heart in your hand and have the option of squeezing the life out of it? Haven't you thought about it princess? You've been running for so long, why not have someone want to run from you?'

Aelita looked Horrified and sunk to her knees throwing her face into her hands crying and Yumi scowled down at her.

'Pathetic.'

'Yumi! What is wrong with you?!'

She paused and threw a smug look up towards the sky where his voice had come from.

'Is that you Jeremie? Lovely to hear your voice.'

'I don't want to hear it! What did you do to Aelita?!'

She grinned. 'Ah well were just having a friendly girl conversation and now she seems to be having a fit not sure why though.'

She shrugged at nothing and when Jeremie's voice came back you could hear the anger flowing through it.

'YUMI! Leave her alone, she did nothing to you!'

She giggled a bit and turned back to Aelita who was looking up at where they were hearing his voice with hope in her eyes. She crouched next to her and Aelita immediately shrunk away from her.

'You know princess you seem to be pretty good at playing the damsel in distress, there goes your knight fighting your battles for you, how cute. You should go back to him.'

In one swift movement Yumi flicked out one of her fans and Aelita was devirtualizing before anyone could do anything about it. Yumi then stood up and turned to the boys grinning her deranged smile.

'That was a bit unfortunate wasn't it? Poor girl might need a bit of therapy.'

She giggled again and strode over to them. William, out of instinct thrust his sword at her and she caught it with her fan, holding him in place mid stride. Just then her expression darkened and she gave them a eerie glare.

'You think you can touch me with this big hung of metal?'

She flicked her wrist and Williams sword was no longer in his hands but several feet behind her and far out of reach and William stumbled back a bit in shock.

Ulrich tensed and strode closer to his friend with conflicting emotions, what had just happened to Aelita could happen to them any moment but this version of Yumi seemed to be entertained by torturing them. William allowed him to pull slightly in front with no weapon to guard himself and this Yumi raised an eyebrow at him her green eyes glinting at him in amusement.

'Well now this is an interesting development. Ulrich Stern protecting William Dunbar? Fascinating. What's next? Are you going to try and hit me with one of your precious swords?'

Ulrich tried to glare at her but the effort died out as soon as he attempted it.

'What's happened to you?'

The words came out before he had a chance to stop them.

She looked at him for a moment with pure surprise and then promptly burst into laughter.

'What happened to me? You all know what happened to me. How is Sissi Ulrich-dear? Was she worth it? Did everyone get what they wanted?'

'What-'

She interrupted Ulrich and glanced over his shoulder at William.

'Oh and you William Xana misses his general dearly do you ever think back to the power you had?'

William stared at her.

'Yes I think about it.'

Ulrich threw a worried look over his shoulder as William continued to speak.

'I think about it every second of every day but not for the power. I think about it so I will never let myself forget how terrible it was to attack my friends, how it felt every time I was forced to devirtualize them or attempt to throw them into the digital sea. I think about it so it will never happen again.'

For a moment Ulrich almost grinned at the sight of a frustrated William clenching his fists at his side but it was ruined when he turned back to Yumi. She looked bored with one hand on her hip and a snide expression on her face.

'How sentimental. You've all become blubbering idiots.'

She pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh before another hoard of kankrelats collected around her and she let out an irritated growl.

'Why don't you stupid things leave me alone!'

She kicked one of them away from her and it tumbled over itself before running away but that didn't deter the rest of them. She grumbled to herself before Ulrich's voice caught her attention and she looked up at him almost like she forgot they were there in the first place.

'Why aren't they attacking you?'

She blinked several times before another grin stretched across her cheeks.

'Ah so you don't know?'

'Know what?'

Williams voice next to him startled Ulrich a bit but he kept his eyes trained on the girl in front of them claiming to be Yumi.

'Well now after your little mission was a success and the tower locked down, I was salvaged by Xana. He showed me proof of your supposed friendship and we made a deal.'

Rage coursed through Ulrich's body. 'You made a deal with it?!'

'Yes I did.'

She grinned and took out a fan that she flung past Ulrich to devirtualize William and he turned away from her to watch his friend disappear into an array of pixels.

'Ulrich?'

He turned at his name and was thrown off his feet from a punch by Yumi. His entire left side of his face felt like it had broken and tears burned his eyes as he hit the ground tumbling over himself before landing on his back a few feet away from her. When he skidded to a stop he barely had enough time to breathe before she was standing above him with one of her fans ready.

'That was for lying to me.'

Then the fan pierced his skin and as she began to disappear he was suddenly falling out of a scanner. When he managed to get to his feet he stumbled to the elevator headed up to computer room rubbing his face, nothing was really broken but it still felt like he had been hit with a cement block.

When the elevator doors opened Odd immediately rushed over to him and helped him stagger towards Jeremie.

'What's going on?'

'I don't know.'

Jeremie didn't glance at him but Ulrich noticed he kept stealing looks away from his computer and Ulrich followed them to see Aelita curled up in the corner asleep with tear streaks running down her face. He shrugged his way out of his jacket and held it out to William who was just a few steps away.

William raised an eyebrow at him. 'What do you want me to do with that?'

Ulrich scowled. 'Put it on Aelita before she gets cold.'

Williams nodded and took it from him before striding over to her and using Ulrich's jacket as a blanket to cover her up. They watched as she reacted to the new warmth and uncurled a hand to pull the jacket closer before going still again and Ulrich sighed turning back to Jeremie watching as he continued to type codes into the computer.

He opened his mouth to ask him if he knew anything but was interrupted.

'I've got it!'

William jogged back over to the computer,

'Got what Jeremie?'

'I know what's wrong with Yumi!'

'What?'

'Xana brainwashed her. That was a physical manifestation of her negative emotions her positive ones must have been removed.'

'I've heard of this before.'

Everyone turned to see Aelita leaning up and wiping her face.

'What do you know about Aelita?'

She wouldn't look at Jeremie.

'Well my father wouldn't tell me much only that the recipient must agree to the procedure and that the positive aspects of a person are removed and slowly destroyed.'

'WHAT?!'

 **A/N: I own nothing**

 **Review plz!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ello! ^^ Thanx for reading! On with the story!**

'Are you ready Aelita?'

Aelita nodded heavily at Ulrich and began speaking.

'My father told me once that a woman had come to him babbling nonsense through her tears about removing her since of grief, it was eating her alive. She had been playing with her daughter tossing a ball back and forth in their backyard when the ball bounced off a tree and went in the wrong direction. Her daughter chased after it as it went into the road, not noticing the blaring of the cars horn until it was too late. She couldn't get to her in time.'

Aelita's hands folded in her lap and she didn't dare look up a the boys in front of her who were sure to be giving her horrified looks. With a sigh she continued-

'The woman blamed herself and had searched for a way to forget and stumbled across a rumor about removing the pain with the use of technology so she had sought him and his partner Tyron. My father told her that no such procedure existed and apologized before he told her he understood her pain making reference to me, saying how hard it must be to loose your only daughter.'

Aelita smiled sadly down at her hands.

'Though father had told the woman the truth he hadn't realized at the time that she had actually come to the right place, it was his partner Tyron that had been experimenting and behind his back he told the woman that he could solve her problems. Tyron uploaded the woman to the still unstable Lyoko prototype and attempted the procedure, it was a success. The woman was suddenly carefree, but she had become violent, when her body tried to piece itself back together her new form became even more unstable. When she refused to accept her emotions back Tyron tried to destroy them so as to see if her virtual form would become less agitated and it began to work. Eventually, after time Tyron managed to destroy the emotions that the woman had so willingly cast away and she suddenly fell, she didn't move again, she had died. Once the outcast emotions were lost her heart stopped, unable to function properly. Just then a great white light engulfed everything and father suddenly realized that he had been transported to the day he met the woman. Confused as to why she would ask him the same questions as before he explored his super computer for the answers and discovered Tyron's digital journal giving the story in detail.'

She took a deep breath and continued.

'Father was furious and demanded an explanation from Tyron who couldn't give him one, he seemed to have forgotten the event all ending his partnership with Tyron he searched the supercomputer for and trace of the woman and the many missing pieces of the puzzle, looking for the specific codes Tyron had put in to try and reverse them and try to release her but he recorded his small findings. Later he discovered the information behind the return to the past and that explained Tyron's forgetfulness but the woman had disappeared. I still have no idea how the procedure is preformed or how to reverse it, the information wasn't within my father's diary, he must've deleted it.'

'Or something else did.'

Startled at the voice Aelita looked up at Jeremie with surprise evident on her face.

'What do you mean?'

Jermeie wasn't looking at her he was staring over her holder, out the window of the dorm with a thoughtful look on his face.

'Well what if it was Xana?'

Odd puffed out his cheeks in irritation.' With you everything is Xana.'

Jeremie continued as if he hadn't heard him.

'The only time anything other than one of us or your father used a return to the past it was Xana, what if the return to the past your father described back then was Xana as well? Xana was designed to be a part of Lyoko even in its proto type form Xana could've watched the events with the woman unfold and then when it witnessed the result, erased any proof of the experiment including using a return to the past to wipe Tyron's mind and kept the information to himself hidden away.'

'But what about father? Why would he notice the return?'

Jeremie put a hand to his chin in thought. 'Well in his diary Franz Hopper describes using the return to the past to play the same day over and over for nearly a year either he was immune or he virtualized himself.'

William who had been silent chose this moment to speak.

'Well what about Yumi? How can we try and save her if we no nothing about this procedure you guys keep talking about?'

Jeremie looked at him. 'Well I suppose while we try and figure out a cure for Yumi we could attempt to capture this new Yumi. After all since my theory wasn't quite right and this isn't our Yumi under some evil influence she couldn't be more than a specter right?'

Aelita shrugged. 'I don't know, like I said this only happened once.'

Jeremie nodded. 'If we capture her she might be able to give us some information but for that we need you Ulrich.'

His head shot up at his name. 'Me?'

'Yes you have a close contact weapon and she seems to be more than willing to attack you without her fans. She shouldn't see anything strange about you coming close to attack her so maybe you can surprise the specter instead.'

Ulrich nodded solemnly. 'Do you think we'll be able to save her?'

'Of course we will! But there's one thing you've got to remember Ulrich good buddy.'

Ulrich turned to give his best friend an irritated glance.

'What's that Odd?'

Odd grinned at him. 'Well if this specter girl is anything like the real Yumi she won't go down without a fight! And if I remember correctly her punches hurt a lot.'

Ulrich flinched and lifted his hand to rest it on his cheek with a wince.

'I know.'

As everyone filed out of Odd and Ulrich's dorm bidding good nights and promises about going after Yumi in the morning Ulrich continued to stare off into space. He sat like that holding his cheek long after Odd's obnoxious snores filled the dorm and wondered to himself.

Aelita said that the woman had originally come to rid herself of grief over her child's death, she also said that the patient has to agree to the procedure. What could have happened possibly to Yumi that she so strongly wanted to forget and push away? What emotions had formed this new specter (as Jeremie had called her) and how much of her words could they believe? Did she mean everything she had said?

More importantly: Where was the real Yumi?

 **A/N: I own nothing**

 **Review plz!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Ello! ^^ Thanx for reading! On with the story!**

As Ulrich followed his friends the next morning to the factory his head was still spinning with questions about this new Yumi (Specter) as he wondered what he would do if they managed to find her. Would he attack her just like any other Xana creation? Would he be able to look into her new hatred filled green eyes and try to slice her down?

He shook his head violently.

Jeremie told them that they shouldn't actually try to harm the specter because according to Aelita's story the real Yumi would die along with her, their mission was just to stall for enough time for him to capture her (whatever that meant). Was he supposed to disarm her? Did they really expect him to be able to fight her off? Even if this was a specter this was still Yumi they were talking about and she would never go down without a fight.

Stepping into the a scanner along side Odd and Aelita he realized Jeremie had been talking to him on the speaker.

'Ulrich are you listening to me?'

Before he could respond the scanner started up and he felt himself being pulled off the ground, he would never fully get used to the feeling of being taken apart and then reshaped virtually. He landed next to Aelita in the middle of the Ice Sector and scowled to himself shaking his head before calling up to Jeremie.

'No I didn't hear you what did you say Jeremie?'

A sigh from the virtual sky

'I _said_ don't let her figure out our plan, she doesn't need to know that we've figured out she's a specter. Just treat her how you would treat our Yumi so she doesn't get suspicious.'

He nodded. 'Right.'

William landed in a crouch next to him, the last to be virtualized, and immediately spoke to Jeremie.

'How are we supposed to find her?'

'Well when she appeared on the screen before she was foreign, not a monster and not human like you guys I should be able to track her strange signature, just give me a second she's somewhere in the ice sector with you.'

William nodded and Ulrich began to examine his surroundings it had been a while sense he had come here. There was something not too far away, an opening in the ice, and hen he got closer he realized it was another slide. He had seen a few of these himself and often shied away from them, he was never fond of being completely at mercy to the elements of Lyoko.

As he bean to back away from his new discovery something heavy landed on his back, it was Odd laughing hysterically holding onto him like a monkey.

'Saved your life!'

Ulrich stumbled heavily forward with the new weight and teetered at the edge of the hole before regaining his balance and letting out a great sigh of relief.

'Oh Ulrich good buddy if only you could've seen your face!'

Ulrich seethed and was about to rip Odd off his back and throw him as far as he possibly could when a loud sound caught his attention.

 **CRACK!**

He looked down slowly to see the part of the ice he had managed to stabilize himself on was beginning to crumble under their combined weight.

'Uh oh.'

William came running over with Aelita both of them oblivious to the situation and William scowled at them putting one hand on his hip.

'What are you two doing over here playing leap frog?'

Aelita giggled Odd was about to jump off Ulrich when he spoke.

'Odd don't move.'

Startled Odd stared at the back of his friends head. 'Why do you suddenly want to give me a piggy back ride?'

Ulrich ignored the statement. 'Look down.'

Odd did as told and looked below Ulrich's feet to see the ice fracture spreading under William and Aelita's feet and as she began to walk towards them he held out a paw to her.

'Stop.'

She frowned but did as told and followed his line of sight to the cracked ground. 'Oh no.'

William looked down as well realizing a bit too late that they were all trapped on cracking ice and there was no way of knowing if it would connect to the tunnel in front of Ulrich or just dump them straight into the digital sea.

William growled at Odd. 'You idiot.'

Odd grinned and shrugged sheepishly almost falling off of Ulrich's back and sinking his claws into his shoulders trying not to touch the ice. Surprised by the sudden pain in his shoulders Ulrich crumpled to the ice with the weight shift dropping Odd beside him and everyone froze watching the ice.

Nothing happened.

'Well that's a relief.'

Ulrich pushed himself up as a loud breaking sound echoed throughout the area.

'Odd?'

'Yes Ulrich good buddy?'

Ulrich glared at him.

'I hate you.'

Suddenly the ground vanished and all four of them fell into darkness. They slammed into each other and bounced off of the walls their screams echoing all around them but then something hit Ulrich hard in the head and everything faded away.

When his consciousness began to creep back to him he groaned. It felt like he had been beaten, his whole body hurt, his head was pounding, and there was a weight across his back making it difficult for him to move. He tilted his head to see what it was and a mop of pink hair came into view, Aelita was out cold sprawled across his back.

He didn't want to shove her off he didn't know if she was hurt or not and didn't want to cause anymore damage, instead he looked around for the others that should be with them.

Odd was unceremoniously thrown across the ice floor laying on his side with both paws out in front of him but where was William?

'William?'

He heard a grunt and a black clad arm poked out from behind a small iceberg not too far away from him.

'I'm over here.'

Ulrich sighed at least they were all accounted for.

'Jeremie?'

No answer and Ulrich frowned.

'Jeremie can you hear me?'

The weight on his back shifted and he turned to see Aelita sitting up holding her head.

'There must be an interference.'

Ulrich nodded and sat up popping the sore muscles in his back as he moved to stand.

'Can I kill him when he wakes up?'

Ulrich looked up to see William hovering over Odd kicking at his paws and almost laughed.

'No you can't William.'

William grumbled to himself and walked over to him and Aelita.

'So what do we do now?'

Ulrich glanced back at the large hole in the wall they had tumbled out of and then forward at the ice cave in front of them.

'I guess we continue forward.'

Aelita seemed concerned. 'With no contact with Jeremie? What If we get devirtualized?'

Ulrich smiled at her, she had always been like his adopted little sister and her fear reminded him of a little kid watching a horror movie and then trying to go to bed.

'It'll be ok Aelita were still in the ice sector, besides you said there was an interference if we keep moving forward he might be able to break through and contact us.'

She nodded hesitantly and looked over towards Odd.

'What about him?'

Ulrich sighed. 'That's the easy part.'

He walked over to Odd and kicked one of his feet.

'Hey Odd if you don't wake up we're going to be late for breakfast.'

Odd immediately sprung up into a sitting position. 'I'm up!'

Ulrich shook his head at him and pulled out his swords heading for the tunnel glancing back at William.

'You ready? With this tunnel being so narrow Odd and Aelita's weapons wont be as useful just incase something comes around the corner.'

William nodded and his sword materialized into his hands as he walked up to stand next to him.

Ulrich glanced back at Odd and Aelita and stepped forward into the lighter tunnel. For a moment he wondered why exactly it was so bright but dismissed the thought, they were in a virtual world it didn't have to make sense.

As they continued forward down the winding tunnel a sound caught his attention and he paused.

'Did you hear that?'

William stopped suddenly and turned to him.

'Hear what?'

For a few long seconds everything was silent and Ulrich's heart beat loudly in his ears. Just as he was about to believe he imagined it he heard it again.

Footsteps.

The were light and calm as they echoed off the walls, and they were getting closer.

Ulrich braced himself and held his swords ready not needing to check to know that everyone else was on high alert and waited for whatever it was to appear.

To his astonishment Yumi rounded the corner and she seemed just as stunned to see them.

Her bright green eyes sparkled with curiosity and mischief as a grin slowly spread across her face and she spoke.

'Well now this is an interesting surprise.'

In that moment it took all of Ulrich's willpower not to scream at her and demand the answers they all wanted, instead he took a step forward.

'Yumi?'

She tilted her head to the side, smile never wavering and gave them a fake solute.

'Bye!'

In one swift movement she turned on her heel and vanished back the way she had come and Ulrich following his instincts bolted after her.

 **A/N: I own nothing**

 **Review plz!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Ello! ^^ Thanx for reading! On with the story!**

Ulrich's muscles burned and begged for a pause, an instant to breathe but he ignored it. Each step was painful his feet pounding the ground and his lungs screamed for mercy but he would have none of that. Ignoring his body's protests he sprinted forward dodging stalagmites and nearly slamming into walls on sharp corners. He could hear her ahead of him and though she seemed so close the echo of her heels on the ice could've been miles away.

He had used his super sprint for a while but all that had accomplished was exhaust him further so he opted to use the muscles he had worked so hard to earn in soccer.

He couldn't remember when he had sheathed his swords or how long ago it was when he could no longer hear his friends struggling to catch up behind him, all he could think about was catching up to the Yumi specter.

If he could catch up to her maybe he could discover where the real Yumi was and that was all he needed to keep his heels digging into the ice and propelling him forward.

When the sound of her running began to fade he was afraid he had fallen too far behind and despite the physical objection his body was screaming at him he shifted back into his super sprint hoping to gain some ground.

He began running uphill and had to focus on his determination to struggle ahead bursting from a waterfall at the mouth of a cave. His body revolted at the action of the sudden stop on the other side and his face burned from how hard he had hit the water, he hadn't been expecting it.

He paused as the adrenaline coursed through his body and took several deep breaths that felt like he had swallowed razor blades and chocked on them as they burned his lungs.

Before he could catch his breath something slammed into his right side and he went tumbling in the air landing a few feet away on his chest. The impact knocked the breath out of him and his head bounced off the ground with a hard thud.

He groaned loudly and shifted to stand up but his legs wouldn't respond correctly so he just settled for leaning up on his arms. Once his vision cleared and his ears stopped ringing he went to look to see what had hit him and realized with a start that there was a megatank right in front of him loading up another shot.

He braced himself for the impact shutting his eyes tightly, it never came. Surprised he slowly opened his eyes to realize the megatank had stopped its attack and retreated back quite a ways and was currently next to the Yumi specter.

She was staring at him.

There was no creepy grin on her face, her fans were no where to be seen and when he looked up into her eyes he didn't see the playful hatred from the first time he saw her, he saw a fog in her eyes. There was something in her eyes that confused him, she seemed to be curious as to what he would do next. She didn't seem to have her normal stature either she looked fragile standing next to the megatank, like she could break in an instant, and despite the growing number of Xana monsters appearing around her she didn't look like she had any intention of attacking him.

He once again tried to push himself into a standing position but his legs revolted and he crumbled back into his first position with a strangled gasp.

'Ulrich!'

Startled at the sound of the voice he turned just in time to see Aelita, Odd and William running towards him. The boys fell into protective stances in front of him and Aelita ran to his side asking him questions about whether or not he was ok but he wasn't listening. Ulrich had turned back to look at the Yumi specter and despite the battle now going on between them with William, Odd and several krabs she hadn't moved.

Her eyes were unblinking and unreadable for a moment almost as if she was looking through him, and then they shifted. Animosity flittered over her features followed by look of great yearning and suddenly she shook her head violently. Confusion settled in her eyes and she held a hand to her temple looking around and seeming to just notice the chaos around her. Her eyes hardened with malice a and she snarled to herself before spinning around and sprinting away from them down the path behind her.

Everything happened quickly after that, he regained proper control of his legs and they defeated the many krabs and megatanks that had gathered before Jeremie's voice cut into his thoughts.

'Guys I can't find her she must be covering her digital signature some how I'm bringing you back.'

Before Ulrich could respond his three teammates devirtualized and he was left temporarily standing in the ice sector alone.

A light humming sound caught his attention and on instinct he turned just in time to catch the object that had been thrown at him. Astonished at his own reflexes he stared at his hand to see that he had caught one of Yumi's beloved sunset fans.

He scanned the area for her and spotted her not far away standing atop a rather large ice berg and for a deranged moment he imaged her in a long flowing black dress and a crown on her head peering from her balcony at her subjects.

He mentally slapped himself and she glared at him so forcefully he wondered if she wanted to kill him before she used her flawless acrobatics to get her to the ground and then she charged at him.

He fell into a natural fighting stance and just when they were about to collide a familiar feeling washed over him and he was tumbling out of the scanner.

Aelita steadied him and he would've lifted his other hand to his throbbing head but there was something in it. Bewildered he pulled his hand up to study the item in his hand, it was Yumi's fan.

Aelita gasped next to him but he couldn't pull his eyes away from it he had never really taken the time to look at one of her fans, it was beautiful. The deep reds and oranges blending at the base and fading out to the edge of the fan in a soft pink framed by the black rim reminded him of her personality a bit.

Then a thought occurred to him. How did he bring it back?

Ulrich brought the fan to Jeremie to examine and they had to head to class but Ulrich's mind was else where mostly thinking about the fact that the Yumi specter didn't try and hurt him immediately and trying to figure out why.

Ulrich had gotten frustrated with his unanswered questions and opted to stare out the window wondering about the real Yumi, if she was ok and if they would be able to find her. Sometime after class Jeremie stopped him in the hall shoving Yumi's fan into his hands saying something about how he should hold on to it and was gone before Ulrich could ask him why.

He went to his 'moping tree' (as his friends called it) and stared at it, opening and closing it, watching the colors spread across his hand and then vanish back into the black bindings. He must've been there for a few hours because night time snuck up on him and it was suddenly dark so he scrambled to his feet and rushed to get to the dorms before Jim noticed he was out after curfew.

When he got to his dorm Odd was already snoring away so he didn't have to worry about any unwanted questions about why he was so late.He shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it and his pants next to his bed before wondering what he would do with the fan.He couldn't just leave it out in the open and have Jim stumble across it in an inspection that would be far too much of a hassle.

He thought about it for a minute and then opened his dresser folded in the corner was his extra bed spread an sheets for when Kiwi peed on his bed, he slipped the fan in between them and closed the dresser.

Climbing into his bed and putting in his earplugs Ulrich fell into a wonderful dreamless sleep...

His eyes snapped open and Ulrich had to focus on the ceiling for a few seconds to realize that not only was he awake but it was still dark. He tilted his head to look at his alarm clock and it mockingly flashed in bright green numbers that it was 3 AM.

His next thought was trying to figure out what had woken him and he leaned up in bed pulling his earplugs from his ears. The moment he took them out Odds snores were the first thing he heard and he almost put them back in when he heard shuffling. He had to squint in the dark but eventually he made out a figure rummaging through his dresser, his first thought was to yell at it but he thought better of that.

He slowly edged himself out of his bed and prepared himself to spring on the person but at that moment the clouds shifted and moonlight shone in their room.

The figure seemed to have found what they were looking for and stood, directly in the light.

Ulrich almost had a heart attack.

'Yumi?!'

She turned immediately at his voice and he realized she looked exactly the same her favorite combat books, black pants, and long sleeve top with her stomach showing, the only difference was the venom green eyes glaring at him. She backed away from him and he realized that she had found her fan when she naturally flicked it open ready to attack him at any moment.

He was took a step forward and she suddenly dove for something in his dresser only after she threw it at him and he got tangled up did he realize it was his own bed sheets. There as a loud bang and when he unraveled himself so see what had happened he saw his desk knocked over on the floor and his window open. Panicked he ran to it hoping she hadn't hurt herself jumping from the height of the window and he watched her figure bolt towards the forest.

 **A/N: I own nothing**

 **Review plz!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Ello! ^^ Thanx for reading! On with the story!**

To the forest sector-

If you had told Ulrich about a month ago, when Xana attacks were down to once every few weeks that Yumi would be kidnapped and that a specter would be sent to torment the group: He would have laughed in your face. As a matter of fact he might have even hit you for daring to say that he couldn't protect her from the dangers of Lyoko.

That being said as he leaned to the left to dodge another jab from the green eyed specter he realized he was an idiot. He watched as the specter in front of him moved, a punch here, a kick there, her jumping out of the way to avoid a half hearted hit on his part. She was one fluid offensive motion, never stopping to calculate his next move and never taking her eyes from him.

When they first met she had told him that her parents had thought she was weird and she only had herself to practice with, that was why she loved sparing with him, he could teach her the defensive tactics.

He turned with her as she tried to circle him and find an opening in his stance, the glare in her eyes thick with irritation. As he watched her he tried to figure out a way to catch her off guard and subdue her for them to question, he began to notice odd things about her.

The way she moved: how she threw her leg out to rip his feet from underneath him and then twisted around back into her original stance, or how she narrowed her eyes in concentration. Every time he threw an arm or a leg at her she would just float out of the way like it was natural and suddenly a thought struck him hard.

You can't program this. He had played all different types of video games and despite the growing graphics the characters were always sloppy, moving in chunky motions, never quite looking natural. He ground his teeth in anger and confusion how could this 'Specter' of Yumi understand the fluid motions that Yumi had spent most of her life teaching herself?

Distracted by his thoughts he almost didn't dodge a fist coming straight for his face and had to stumble back a few steps but that only encouraged her and she came at him faster. With every swing and every near hit he was becoming worried, he wasn't sure how much longer he could just continue to avoid her before she would begin to notice that he wasn't putting up much of a fight.

Another fist came at him again and this time he reacted on instinct catching the opposing wrist in his hand and holding it tightly in place, she froze.

All form of expression drained from her face and her other hand fell to her side. She stared at the wrist he held and then looked back to his face. She looked at him an for several long seconds just staring almost as if she had forgotten they were fighting just moments ago. His heart beat in his chest trying to break its way through his rib cage and in his ears blocking his thought process and then, all at once, everything stopped.

Her eyes were black.

He dropped her wrist out of surprise at the sudden familiar color as his mind short circuited trying to understand what was going on.

Her blank expression melted away to pain and then she screamed. It wasn't a scream he would ever expect to come from her. High and shrill the sound slammed into his senses and his world spun, it felt like an ice pick had been lodged into his ear and had gotten stuck between his eardrum and his brain.

He retreated a few steps in response to the excruciating sound he hadn't been expecting and the specter crumpled to the ground. Forcing his eyes to stay open he was determined to get answers from her so he clenched his teeth and removed one hand from over his ears to reach for his sword.

When his hand came in contact with the familiar hilt he pulled it from its sheath but before he could make a move to do anything he was hit hard in the side and went flying.

Only after he bounced off the ground several feet away and his sense of virtual gravity returned did he realize that she had stopped screaming. He shook his head and got up to see a tarantula standing between him and the Yumi specter who was still on the ground holding both hands to her head.

He paused as he remembered something Jeremie had told him this morning when he explained about the specter breaking into his dorm.

 _'The fan seems to be a part of her. That's why she was so desperate to get it back. I scanned the Fan before I gave it to you to hold and a fraction of Yumi's DNA structure was infused in it. That must be how Xana is keeping this Specter alive part of Yumi exists within the specter aside from her outcast emotions. I was wrong we aren't fighting a shell Xana has created to harbor Yumi's feelings we are fighting a specter that was stitched together with her DNA sequence and folded around the parts that were removed. That explains why she can recognize us and why she has Yumi's memories because she is a part of her she is actually reading twisted versions of her own long forgotten memory!'_

 _At the time Ulrich didn't understand a single word of that so, of course, he turned to Aelita._

 _'What was that?'_

 _She grinned at him, she had always loved explaining what Jeremie thought was common sense._

 _'In other words: There is a piece of Yumi in the specters body that has her memory and part of her DNA which allows her to fabricate lies and use them against us.'_

 _'Riiiight'_

As Ulrich stared at the figure not too far from him a crazy thought occurred to him. What if that little piece of Yumi was trying to take over the specter?

'Yumi!'

The specter jolted forward like she had been hit in the back and with both hands on the ground she turned to give him the fiercest glare he had ever seen.

First he saw the acid green, but then he realized that it was only in one eye, the other one was as dark as coal just like he remembered.

He took a step forward, half expecting the tarantula to shoot at him but it didn't move from its defensive position between them.

She struggled to her feet and leaned heavily on the tarantula.

'How could you do that...?'

It was so quiet he almost didn't hear her say it and confusion settled in his thoughts.

'Do what?'

'Trap me in the tower! I thought you were my friends! Your all going to pay for what you did to me!'

She took a step forward and collapsed to the forest floor. He responded immediately running towards her but the tarantula moved protectively over her and shot at him before he could respond.

The familiar feeling rushed over him and he was waking up in a scanner with a pounding headache. He stumbled to the elevator and leaned against the back wall for support, for some reason he felt drained of energy. When he walked into the super computer room Aelita appeared asking if he was ok and he just smiled at her saying he was tired.

'What happened in there? After her scream the screen went blank and I couldn't contact you.'

Ulrich looked away from Aelita and over to Jeremie scanning Odd and William's expressions as he did so and took a deep breath before answering, completely ignoring the question.

'Jeremie we have a big problem.'

He raised an eyebrow at him. ' What's the problem?'

'That wasn't a specter that was the real Yumi.'

'What!?'

'Her eyes changed back.'

Aelita looked at me with a concerned expression.

'Are you sure?'

I steeled my expression and nodded at her.

'I'm positive.'

 **A/N: I own nothing**

 **Review plz!**


End file.
